History Film / BigFish

* ConversingWithTheUnconscious: Subverted and Discussed. [[spoiler: After Edward ends up in the hospital due to a stroke, the next scene shows Will quietly reading at his father's side. To this, Dr. Bennett notes that it bothers him how people try to hold a conversation with their unconscious loved ones when there's no point, and remarks that Will and Edward are a refreshing change of pace. In turn, Will soberly points out that their estrangement is the secret to the lack of this trope.]]

* FanDisservice: Amos' nude body after a night as a werewolf, with the camera lingering on his backside.

* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Don gives one to Edward when he finds him with Sandra. Edward ''allows'' him to beat him up since he had sworn to Sandra not to fight back. Thankfully, Sandra is disgusted by Don's acts and immediatelly calls off the marriage.

* StableTimeLoop: Invoked and played with. In his first story, Edward meets a witch who tells him how he's going to die. [[spoiler:When Will goes to meet Jenny and learns the eventual fate of Spectre, the story ends with Jenny becoming the Witch after realizing Edward wouldn't return her feelings and living in isolation afterwards. This makes it where Will's finding out about his father's life is a stable time loop and ends where it started, but even the actual Jenny acknowledges that's partially due to the fantastical way Edward told his stories more than anything else.]]

* ShoutOut: When in Spectre for the first time, Edward walks past a man sitting on his porch playing [[Film/{{Deliverance}} "Dueling Banjos"]].

Journalist Will Bloom (Creator/BillyCrudup) returns home with his wife Joséphine (Creator/MarionCotillard) to visit his dying father Edward (elder played by Creator/AlbertFinney, younger played by Creator/EwanMcGregor). He is displeased to find that his father continues to tell the same old {{tall tale}}s he's told all his life. Still, he's determined to [[TellMeAboutMyFather write his father's story]], and searches for some of the people his father crossed paths with. The further he searches, the more he finds that those stories might not be as far-fetched as they once seemed.

Will Bloom, a journalist (Creator/BillyCrudup), returns home with his wife to visit his dying father Edward (elder played by Creator/AlbertFinney, younger played by Creator/EwanMcGregor). He is displeased to find that his father continues to tell the same old {{tall tale}}s he's told all his life. Still, he's determined to [[TellMeAboutMyFather write his father's story]], and searches for some of the people his father crossed paths with. The further he searches, the more he finds that those stories might not be as far-fetched as they once seemed.

The film also stars Creator/JessicaLange as the elder Sandra Bloom, Creator/HelenaBonhamCarter as Jenny, Creator/AlisonLohman as the younger Sandra Bloom, Creator/RobertGuillaume as Dr. Bennett, Creator/MarionCotillard as Joséphine Bloom, Creator/SteveBuscemi as Norther Winslow and Creator/DannyDeVito as Amos Calloway.

A 2003 fantasy drama film written by Creator/JohnAugust and directed by Creator/TimBurton, based on the novel by Daniel Wallace.

* SheatheYourSword: When young Edward is confronted by a wolf [[spoiler:or rather, Amos Calloway in werewolf form]], he brandishes a stick as if to hit the wolf with it. Just before it charges, he throws it... past the wolf, and they have a friendly game of fetch.

* ActorAllusion: When Edward first arrives in Spectre, he passes a fellow who plucks out a few notes of "Dueling Banjos," the well-known theme from ''Film/{{Deliverance}}''. The banjoist is played by Creator/AlbertFinney, who performed the song on-screen in that film.

* ShoutOut: When in Spectre for the first time, Edward walks past a man sitting on his porch playing [[Film/Deliverance "Dueling Banjos"]].

* ShroudedInMyth: Ed's particular problem, which has caused a few years of estrangement. No one can tell which stories he tells are true and which are just him spinning yarns.